The definitive biography of General Lee

From the Duke boys’ car named the General Lee on the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show to his appearance on a U.S. postage stamp, Robert E. Lee has come to “embody and glorify a defeated cause,” Michael Korda asserts in a monumental new biography, Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee.

Epic life of a would-be savior

T.E. Lawrence had conflicting feelings about his own fame. In the 1930s, film producer Alexander Korda owned the movie rights to Lawrence’s popular book Revolt in the Desert, about the Arab fight for independence from Turkey during World War I. But “Lawrence of Arabia” persuaded Korda not to make the movie during his own lifetime; ultimately, Korda sold the rights to Sam...